'Divide and blame' is Obama's poll message: Jindal

June 23, 2012 13:55 IST

Indian American Governor Bobby Jindal has launched yet another attack on the US President by alleging that Barack Obama's re-election campaign message is "divide and blame" and not "hope and change" of his 2008 campaign.

"In 2008, President Obama campaigned on a message of 'Hope and Change'. (On) Thursday, speaking in Ohio, the President announced his re-election campaign message of 'Divide and Blame'," Jindal wrote in an op-ed on the CNN website.

Jindal is said to be among those shortlisted as the Vice President running mate of Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

The first Indian American governor of a US State, Jindal said Obama cannot ask Americans if they are better off than they were four years ago, and so is trying to blame others for his record.

Over half a million fewer Americans have jobs today than when he took office, he charged.

"After his advisors projected that his $800 billion stimulus bill would keep unemployment below eight per cent, it has remained above that benchmark for a record 40 months and counting.

"Median family net worth has hit a two-decade low, median household income has declined, more than 30 per cent of borrowers are underwater on their mortgage, 23 million Americans remain unemployed or underemployed, and half of college graduates this year come out of school unemployed or underemployed," he said.

This is for the second time in less than a month that Jindal has launched a scathing attack on Obama.

Early this month Jindal alleged Obama's administration is a nexus of liberalism and incompetence.

"The Obama admin(istration) is at the nexus of liberalism and incompetence and together that's a deadly combination," Jindal said in his remarks at the Chicago meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Writing for the CNN, Jindal said being President is a hard job.

"One of the hardest parts is that you can't just make excuses. Harry Truman understood this. It's just not allowed from the president of the United States. Excuses make the president look small and weak. It is frankly a little embarrassing," he wrote.

"The President himself promised, after being elected, that if he didn't get the economy fixed in three years, then his presidency was 'going to be a one-term proposition'. President Clinton, speaking in 2010 at the same spot where the President spoke Thursday, said 'Give us two more years. If it doesn't work, vote us out'. Good advice. That was then. Now, the president is basically saying that he is a victim of circumstances, and we are all victims," Jindal wrote.

"Thursday's speech was also a speech of class warfare. The other campaign President Obama announced is a class warfare campaign of division. He plans to divide America along class lines, gender lines, party lines, age lines and any other lines he can find. He will run a campaign of rich against poor, men against women, Democrats against Republicans, young against old and liberals against conservatives," he said.

Jindal said Obama's entire philosophy can be encapsulated in one little line toward the end of his speech.

"He suggested we should put money into infrastructure and 'do some nation building here at home'. While this may be a cute turn of phrase, and certainly polls well, it is all you need to know about the outlook of this President.

"He believes that this nation was built by the government, and that more government spending is the key to our future. This is a speech that should have been delivered in France," Jindal said.